With another school term about to wrap up, then the chances are you’re looking for fun activities to keep the little ones entertained. Whatever their age, taking part in arts and crafts activities can be enjoyable - it won’t break the bank and family members of all ages can get involved.
Taking part in kids arts and crafts during the half-term and summer holidays not only keeps children occupied but encourages fine motor skills, neural development and problem-solving abilities. What’s more, therapists say that arts and crafts help children process their world and give them critical sensory input that’s good for their health. For parents and guardians, arts and crafts help with the transitions of the day, and for children, it gives them an excuse to get creative, get their hands dirty, and really immerse themselves into a whole new world.
Below, we’ve put together some fun half-term arts and crafts activities to try out this month…
Colouring in
Let’s start with one of the most basic - colouring in! All you need is a printer, some crayons or pencils, and colouring sheets for kids, which you can download from the Everything’s Rosie website. Our animated series was designed for children aged three to six and sees Rosie and her friends go on educational adventures. With full episodes available to watch on YouTube, why not print off a couple of colouring-in sheets, featuring characters like Will, Holly, Raggles and Oakley, and have some fun colouring in whilst exploring Rosie’s world?
Portraits
Another fun arts and crafts activity for children is portraits and self-portraits. Again, you need nothing more than some pencils and a piece of paper, and you can set the youngsters away drawing themselves or their friends. Get the whole family involved in a portrait competition - the winner gets a chocolate bar or a new pack of pencils to play with. Or give the Exquisite Corpse drawing game a go. Grab a piece of paper and have one person draw a part of a body - either a head or some feet. Then fold the paper so the next drawer can see only a few guiding lines, and they can draw the next part of the body. Carry it on until everyone’s drawn a piece and unfold to reveal the humorous - and sometimes quite frightening - drawing!
Finger puppets
You can make finger puppets with some plain cardboard, coloured pens, googly eyes, some glue, and some scissors. We’ve got our very own Blue Bear’s Finger Puppet guide for you to try on our website. Draw a character onto the card, colour it in, and then cut it out. You can then add googly eyes and cut out some circles in the bottom half of the character to create a set of feet. Once everyone’s created their own puppet, you can organise a puppet show from your kitchen table, and perhaps even make some props with leftovers. If you’ve got an iPad to hand, you could even film your puppet show to look back on in the future. It’s super fun!
Homemade stamps
If you really want to get their creative juices (and paint!) flowing, then consider creating some homemade stamps. Kids love dipping stamps into paint or ink pads and using them in their creations, so why not make customised stamps that mean something to them? You can use everyday household items like wine corks and milk bottle lids for your stamp’s base, and then cut out some fun shapes like smiley faces, stars, and initials using foam. Glue them onto the bases and you can have hours of fun stamping away with paper and paint or ink.
Create your own play dough
Finally, if you’re looking for a toddler arts and crafts project that offers sensory play, creating your own play dough is something we’d recommend. You can make it with your youngsters and create different batches with unique colours and flavours. You’ll need some all-purpose flour, some salt, cream of tartar, water, coconut oil, food colouring, and flavour extracts. The Hippy Homemaker has put together a step-by-step guide and offers some colour and scent combinations, like red apple cider, orange and spice, and honey vanilla blue. Sounds great!
At Everything’s Rosie, we’ve got lots of easy craft ideas for kids on our website. Check them out and let us know how you get on via our Twitter and Instagram pages - we’d love to hear from you. Check back soon for more arts and crafts ideas and content right here on the blog.